For the first time in years, I’m excited about a WipEout game. This doesn’t happen often. During the past few iterations through WipEout HD, WipEout Fusion and WipEout Pure, the series has petered out. You can only take so much… Continue Reading →

For the first time in years, I’m excited about a WipEout game. This doesn’t happen often. During the past few iterations through WipEout HD, WipEout Fusion and WipEout Pure, the series has petered out. You can only take so much futuristic hover racing before it grows stale.

But with WipEout 2048, SCE Studio Liverpool’s latest entry feels new again, mostly because it delves into the racing series’ fictional past. The studio’s first foray on the PlayStation Vita acts like a WipEout: Year One. It takes place in the near future, well, as near as it can be — the year in the title.

WipEout 2048 is about the inaugural season of the racing competition, according to associate producer Michael Pulst. The ships have a rough, unfinished look to them. They aren’t the sleek models that fans have been accustom to. The tracks take place in actual cities because dedicated courses haven’t been invented yet. It’s a mix of old and new.

ADDING MORE DEPTH: When it comes to the core gameplay and track design, WipEout 2048 is just as fast and just as explosive. SCE Studio Liverpool creates smarter, more strategic tracks with multiple routes that have benefits and drawbacks. Much of the depth come in the two types of pad pick-ups. Instead of just speed pads and item pads, the team split the pick-ups into offensive (yellow) and defensive (green) power-ups.

Depending on where players are at in the race, they may opt for one or the other. If they’re behind, they may go for offensive pads to attack first-place. If they’re in the lead, they may want to fend off challengers and stick with defense. The pads are distributed so that an offensive fork in the course may be shorter and a defensive one is longer. There’s also speed boosts factored in.

As for the tracks, they’re some of the more creative ones I’ve seen in years. Part of the reason is that they’re built into cities. Instead of going up ramps and fantastic aquariums or sweeping roads, players will be roaring down the side of a skyscraper. It gives the levels a different sense of perspective. It feels more concrete, less fantasy, more reality.

Being on the Vita, SCE Studio Liverpool incorporated different control schemes for the ships and a few surprises as well. If you’re playing head to head, the game snaps a photo of you, similar to what Nintendo did with Star Fox 64 3D.

NEW WAYS TO PLAY: From there, players can control their vehicles with the analog stick and buttons. There’s also motion control, where players steer by tilting the Vita and using the touch-screen and back touch-pad to fire off weapons and brake. There’s also a mixture of both, where players can use the tilt and buttons.

One of the more surprising features is how SCE Studio Liverpool will incorporate Cross-Play into the system. For those who don’t know, that’s a Sony initiative where the Vita and PS3 interact with one another. When it comes to the two, WipEout 2048, lets players on a Vita compete online with PS3 players. That means every copy of WipEout 2048 has tracks for WipEout HD.

It opens up some interesting avenues of play. For example, if a buddy wants to race a friend, he can be on the PS3 on the flat-screen TV and the Vita owner can play on his smaller screen. They’ll both be in the same room and connect via the Internet, but they’ll be playing each other. It doesn’t work via adhoc.

Going more in depth with the multiplayer, I found out that it’ll support adhoc and online competition. The races support up to eight ships in a contest. There’s even an online campaign that lets novices compete with veterans in their own way. In the online campaign, there are separate objectives for newbies to shoot for, and if they place in the top five in an online race, they can unlock ships and other features.

With more than 20 ships and 10 new tracks, there’s a decent amount of content for the game when it comes out when PlayStation Vita launches next year.